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Accelerating effects of epidermal growth factor on skin lesions of pemphigus vulgaris: a double‐blind, randomized, controlled trial
Author(s) -
Tabrizi MN,
ChamsDavatchi C,
Esmaeeli N,
Noormohammadpoor P,
Safar F,
Etemadzadeh H,
Ettehadi HA,
Gorouhi F
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of the european academy of dermatology and venereology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.655
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-3083
pISSN - 0926-9959
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3083.2006.01873.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pemphigus vulgaris , silver sulfadiazine , adverse effect , dermatology , randomized controlled trial , sulfadiazine , lesion , saline , surgery , antibiotics , wound healing , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Background Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a severe blistering disease involving the skin and mucous membranes. The most common causes of death in these patients are adverse effects of drugs, and infection. Skin lesions are one of the important sources of infection. Thus, any local treatment that could reduce healing time of lesions and consequently reduce the total dosage of drugs needed to treat is favourable. Objective To evaluate the efficacy of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in reducing healing time of lesions in patients with pemphigus vulgaris. Methods In this randomized, double‐blind, within‐patient, left/right, controlled trial, 20 hospitalized patients with pathologial and immunohistologial (direct and indirect immunoflourecence) proven pemphigus vulgaris (PV) were chosen. In addition, all patients had at least one appropriate pemphigus lesion on each side of the body that had not healed after 2‐week systemic therapy and sterile saline washing. EGF (10 µg/g) in 0.1% silver sulfadiazine cream vs. 0.1% silver sulfadiazine cream alone was applied randomly on one side of the body. Results Kaplan–Meier survival analysis suggested that median time to heal with application of EGF plus silver sulfadiazine cream was 9 days, in comparison with 15 days for silver sulfadiazine cream alone (log‐rank test, P = 0.0003). No intervention‐related adverse effect was observed during the study. Conclusions EGF can significantly reduce healing time of skin lesions in patients with pemphigus vulgaris, at least when this cream base is applied (Cochrane skin group identifier: CSG20).